12 Awesome Keyword Tools for Your Website

In-depth keyword research is the backbone of any effective SEO campaign. Fortunately, you don’t have to go it alone. The Internet abounds with keyword tools. Some of them are free, and some of them come with monthly fees. Which ones are worth your while? We’ve compiled a list of 12 of the most effective keyword tools. Learn more about each one below.

Without a doubt, this is the most effective free keyword research tool available today. You simply can’t hope to run an effective SEO campaign without making regular use of the Google AdWords keyword tool. By adding a word or phrase, a target website and a region, if desirable, you will be presented with in-depth information. It allows you to find out how fierce the competition is and gives you a list of related keywords and key phrases.

With this tool, you can check your competitors’ AdWords spending, learn more about their organic and PPC spending and zero in on winning keyword and ad copy combinations. A dizzying array of search options is available as well. You can try it out with the free demo, and you may very well find that it’s worthwhile to pay the monthly fee to keep using it.

For the reasonable price of just $9.95 a month, you can receive real-time statistics about the keywords that are being used to find your site. This is a great way to come up with promising new keywords for your SEO campaign. To date, the site has analyzed more than 1.2 billion keywords. If you’re unsure about whether it’s worth it, you can use the free version to see what it’s all about. Think of it as a way to get inside prospective customers’ heads.

It’s important to fill your site with Google-friendly content. This robust tool makes that a lot easier to do. Wordtracker includes a first-rate keyword suggestion tool. You can use it to search for specific keywords and to find out how many searches are being performed for them per month. You’ll also be presented with a list of keyword variations. Additional tools like a link-building tool and a competition analysis tool are also available. You can check it out with a seven-day free trial. The full version costs $299 per year.

One of the nice things about this tool is that several monthly plans are available. You can easily find one that suits your needs and your budget. It includes many useful keyword research functions, and it even allows you to import lists of keywords. This tool was clearly designed by people who do this type of research all the time. You can blacklist unwanted keywords, tag keywords to organize them more effectively and filter them according to many different criteria. In addition to that, you can track your ranking for thousands of keywords quickly.

The primary goal of this tool is to allow you to take over your desired niche. You work towards that goal in a number of ways. A comprehensive analysis of the competition can be conducted quickly. Bright, easy-to-read graphs make it easy to see where you stand and to check how your competition is faring. Different plans are available, and each one includes a different maximum number of analyses per day. This tool also allows you to generate PDF reports that can be used to fine-tune your SEO strategy.

Executing an effective PPC campaign can be tricky. Without doing the right research, yours could be doomed to failure. Keyword analysis plays a vital role, and iSpionage is perfect for anyone who is doing keyword research for their PPC campaigns. You can monitor the competition’s paid search campaigns as well, which makes it easier to find gaps where you can slide in and be more competitive. Some stand-out features include social mention data and SEO keyword monitoring. Monthly plans are available, or you can pay for six months at a time and save a lot of money.

This one really stands out because it takes a whole different approach to keyword analysis. Instead of generating reports based on searches and other data, this tool puts you in the driver’s seat. You send a search scenario to a handful of people. They are then asked to provide the types of terms that they would use to solve the problem. With that information, you can get inside people’s heads and get a better handle on the types of keywords they’d use. It’s worth it to give Seed Keywords a try because it’s totally free.

Are you the type of person who prefers visual representations of data as opposed to row after row of numbers? If so, Keyword Eye may be right for you. This tool uses keyword clouds and other visual representations of important search engine data to help you fine-tune your SEO campaign. It’s also a great way to brainstorm new keywords for your campaign. A variety of reporting options is available. You can even generate reports that can be used by copywriters for inspiration. You can try it for free right on the main website.

One of the top selling points of this keyword tool is that it incorporates many different tools and reports. You can access these tools from a single, easy-to-use interface. The AdWords tools lets you study up about how your competitors are using keywords in their campaigns. You can generate reports about search trends to come up with new directions for your campaign. There is also a meta search tool that lets you dig even deeper. Although a free version isn’t available, a risk-free trial is. With all of these tools in one place, your campaign is sure to flourish.

Sometimes, the best way to get ahead is by riding on the coattails of the competition. This keyword tools make it easy to do that. With a few clicks of the mouse button, you can discover the landing pages and paid keyword ads that your competitors are using. You can even find out what’s working and what isn’t. With that information, you can fine-tune your existing efforts or start a whole new campaign. A 30-day free trial is available, and plans range in price from $29 a month to $499 a month.

The one drawback to this tool is that you need to have an SEOmoz PRO account. If you do though, this tool works incredibly well. In fact, it became so popular that the site had to restrict its use to members only. One of the best things about the keyword difficulty tool is its simplicity. Just plug in the keyword of your choice and get a wide array of information. You can find out the search volume for a keyword on Google AdWords and get all kinds of additional information. The tool is free to PRO members.

About the Author:

Rob Walling is the CEO of HitTail (one of the tools in this list!) and a serial entrepreneur. His blog, Software By Rob, is read by about 30,000 web entrepreneurs each month and he co-hosts one of the leading startup podcasts called Startups for the Rest of Us.

Daniel,
Google’s tool is free. For more advanced tools you simply can’t get as much quality with free tools. For example SEOmoz’s tools rack up some ridiculous amount of bandwidth charges each month, so of course they are going to have to charge for use.

Arena,
Google’s keyword tool is one of the few free ones that is very helpful. If you’re looking for something with as much information and as much depth as the tools listed here you will have to pay for something.